AirAsia orders 100 Airbus A321neos

Budget carrier AirAsia has ordered 100 A321neo aircraft from global aerospace giant Airbus.

The announcement came late Tuesday at the Farnborough Airshow here.

The budget carrier has been delivered over 170 A320s which are flying with in Malaysia, Thailand, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The current contract was signed by AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes and Airbus President and Chief Executive Fabrice Bregier.

The contract marks the first order placed by AirAsia for the largest model in the best selling A320 family.

According to Fernandes: "The A321neo will help us to meet ongoing strong demand as well as further reduce our cost per "Available Seat Kilometre" across the group, which will translate to lower air fares for our guests."

"The A321neo will be operated on our most popular routes and especially at airports with infrastructure constraints. It will allow us to bring higher passenger volumes with the same slots, therefore providing immediate benefits to the airports," Fernandes was quoted in a statement as saying.

The airline further said that the aircraft, which can seat up to 236 passengers in a single class layout, will enable it to increase capacity and reduce operating costs.

"Today's announcement sees the total number of A320 Family ordered by AirAsia rise to 575, reaffirming the carrier's position as the largest airline customer for the Airbus single aisle product line," the statement said.

Currently, AirAsia Group operates close to 1,000 flights per day to more than 120 destinations in 24 countries. It has recorded a robust load factor of 85 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, up eight percentage points from the same period in 2015.

--IANS

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